Hello! As one of the pioneers using Honey Select to create derivative games, I was always kind of fascinated by this subject and when I found out that Subverse could be using assets from Illusion, I decided to do a little research.
As for UV-Maps, if what the Russian user posted is true (on the first pages of this topic), then unfortunately they are the same UV-Maps. The fact that they added more vertices does not mean much. There are mods for hi-res bodies in Honey Select that use the same UV-Map as the original bodies, but with more vertices added.
The position of the vagina is also not so important. Honey Select mods often use another part of the UV Map for the vagina (just like the Subverse guys apparently did).
About the hands, I also went to look more closely. The first evidence is an alleged image showing the hands of both games having exactly the same geometry. However, this can be easily forged. What cannot be forged, however, is the end result and I am 99.9% sure that Subverse models use the same hand as Honey Select. This does not prove that the Subverse guys stole the model, however. They may simply have used the same asset library as Illusion or something.
What makes me a little incredulous in this whole story is that to export the Honey Select models and use them in a 3D program you just need to follow a 15 minute tutorial on Youtube. The modder community has already done all the heavy work so Honey Select is currently the laziest option possible, the thing you choose if you have 0 dollars and need a model ready in less than two days. This is very strange because Subverse is a $2 million game that took years to be made. I don't believe they would choose such a lazy option when they can pay, let's say, $500 on high-quality base models ready to be used in 3D games/Unreal Engine 4. It is inconceivable to me that they needed to waste time stealing assets from Honey Select, unless they were tricked by the artist who made the game's models.
I see no such post on the first page, so I had to google around for a bit and seem to have found it:
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That does look similar, but as you say it could be forged, not like it would be the first time someone has done that just to add fuel to the fire (like the "Netorare Unlocked" photoshop). I'm especially dubious of this screenshot because the post I got it from claims they found it on
4chan.
With that said, I did ask someone else in another discussion about the UV maps and this is what they provided:
https://attachments.f95zone.to/2021/04/1138669_unknown.png
Even with the low-quality screenshot you can see they are not the same UV map. The claim that I saw was the the UV maps were "exactly the same", therefore the models were the same, but that's clearly not the case; the entire reason I went into explaining how UV maps are generated from 3D models was to illustrate there are more parts to Subverse's model that simply do not exist on the Honey Select model, because if they did, the program that generated the Honey Select UV maps
would've included them. That has nothing to do with how
modders put vagina textures on the unused space.
With that said, I stated it's still possible it's a heavily edited model; I agree it's possible that StudioFOW upscaled the model, carved out the crotch to make room for an entirely new vagina model, and enlarged the hands (among other differences), but the fact is you'd need to run a comparison analysis between the two models to identify the telltale signs of editing to prove Subverse's model is actually an edited Honey Select model. This is not something you eyeball and can declare with any confidence is a stolen asset, which leads to my next (somewhat ranty) point...
And I'm sorry, but I'm going to be a little rude here: what the fuck does "
What cannot be forged, however, is the end result and I am 99.9% sure that Subverse models use the same hand as Honey Select" even mean? The models
look similar, therefore you're positive they're the same? Does the fact that Dead or Alive and 2B can be recreated in Honey Select also mean those three companies all used the same models? Does the fact that Miku Miku Dance and Custom Maid 3D characters look similar make you 99.9% sure they're the same models? They're all chasing variations of the simplified anime aesthetic,
of course the end results will look similar. I have absolutely no qualms about the similar results
raising suspicions, but it shouldn't be within a fucking mile of a conclusion, especially if that conclusion is "oh, they committed a crime".
I'm trying to keep an open mind here, I will always ask for evidence rather than outright refuse a claim based on second hand accounts, but so far I've seen nothing but evidence that doesn't support the claim and a lot of useless conjecture. That's apparently enough for people who are hellbent on hating the game no matter what, but it shouldn't be for anyone else.
